Honoring Intelligent and Respectful Conversation

Jon Pactor ’71 welcomes guests to the Scarlet Inn and the dedication of The Vic Powell Chair of Intelligent and Respectful Conversation.

Steve Charles—Jon Pactor has come up with some of the best ideas for Wabash I’ve known in my 17 years at the College, the annual national WABASH Day of community service and the recently completed Alumni/Faculty Symposium “Wally at the Wheel” among them.

I recall an uncomfortable silence. Did he have any idea how much it would cost to endow a chair, a professorship, here? Since when did my friend who drove a Wabash red Volkswagen Beetle have that kind of cash?

“Not a professorship,” Jon said before I could figure a polite way of questioning his sanity. “I’m endowing a real chair.”

I laughed, thinking he was joking, as Jon is wont to do, both verbally and in his choice of fashion.

I didn’t know. I tend to err on the side of caution when it comes to making a complete fool of myself (except in print)—I’m even more wary when it comes to my friends doing the same.

“Good. I think it’s good idea, Jon,” I said, the way you might tell a friend that singing a solo unaccompanied at a karaoke bar is a good idea.

It was the kind of thing only Jon could think up. A perfect combination of his quirky sense of humor, his love for this place, his affection and gratitude for his teachers, his fearless knack for finding ways to make good things happen. And it all converged with a moment to honor the man who taught generations here the meaning of honesty, civility, integrity, and camaraderie. What was not to like?

And, what the hell, I thought. He’s going to do it anyway.

So I was all in. I even added a photo gallery of the Scarlet Inn in the upcoming issue of Wabash Magazine to celebrate the dedication.

But I worried about how others might respond. So I walked over early Friday morning, either to get a good spot to take photos, or, if things went the way I feared, to be there to support Jon.

Tom Keedy had arranged the purchase of the chair and the plaque, and Beth Swift had helped with the photograph—they were there. Mary Jo Johnston and Bon Appetit had donated the food Tessa and Kecia put out for the reception.

They were there to celebrate a man and a family who mean different things to each of us, but much to all.

Marion Powell tries out the chair dedicated to the memory of her husband, Professor Vic Powell H’55.

And best of all, there was Marion (I can’t see her without hearing Vic’s voice: “My child bride”) and their daughter, Carol.

Someone commented to me that this intergenerational group of Wabash men and women had never been together in the same room before. Yet it had a feeling of homecoming.

The only way it could have been better is if Vic had shown up himself. And perhaps he was there, in the hopeful and unexpected ways we carry those we love forward; as Jon said, “Vic Powell, like so many of the professors here—they live in me.”

You’d be hard pressed to find more fitting, remarkable, or enjoyable tribute.

The plaque on the back of the chair reads:

The Dr. Vic Powell Chair
Of Intelligent and Respectful Conversation.
He served and loved Wabash, 1947-2011.

I want to thank Jon so much for coming up with this idea, and carrying it through. I was deeply sorry that I was not able to attend the ceremony, but I think Vic would have understood my taking some current Wabash students to deliver a conference paper that day in Minneapolis–why am I thinking that Vic is from Minnesota? I was particularly sorry because I am one of the few current faculty members who knew all of the round-tablers in that 1970 photo. Eldon Parks, Ted Bedrick–I occasionally sat with them as well. But it was Vic who for me captured the essence of that table and really got me to sit down. As a liberal, democrat from New York–maybe more than liberal–I sometimes felt funny sitting there with some people from very different backgrounds, both geographical and political. But Vic–aside from being a democrat–set a tone of discourse that invited everyone in. Vic was a link between me and Dan Evans–former trustee, treasurer, acting president. I don’t think Dan and I would ever have become close enough to have the good talks we did if Vic had’t been there to keep us from yelling at each other over politics, teaching, and even buying lunch! (I, untenured and living pay check to pay check, bought my lunch, and wealthy CEO Dan brought a little lunch box everyday. He would berate me for wasting my money! He was right of course, but wasn’t I helping the college economy?) Anyway, I want to thank Marion and Vic for being such a vital part of the college community for so long, and for being such wonderful people.